Title: From Here to Serenity
Author: Bastard Snow
Rating: PG-13

Summary: Buffy's fall through Glory's portal took her somewhere nobody had ever imagined. Now, it's up to Willow and Xander to get her back.

Disclaimer: I don't own either of these.

Author's Notes: Much, much thanks to Drake, without whom this story would not exist. Also, obviously, thanks to Joss Whedon for coming up with two universes that have nothing to do with each other. Makes it a challenge to make them have everything to do with each other.

Feedback: Yes, please!

Willow looked out over the barren desert, shielding her eyes from the glare. "Where'd you say this was, again?"

"This town here's Hancock," Kaylee said. "Cap'n had a fella offer him some work doin' something, and well, we go where the work is. Y'all sure were nice about lettin' us detour before hittin' Boros, especially since the mix-up with the captain."

The two of them stood on the cargo ramp on Serenity, overlooking a small town that appeared to be down on its luck. Xander was about a hundred yards away in dirt field, stretching his legs and taking a breather from being cooped up on the ship.

"Well, we weren't in any hurry. And really, that whole thing was sort of our fault, anyway."

"Oh, don't say that," said Kaylee. "Maybe y'all were a little out of touch, but the cap'n had no right sayin' what he did, even if you were a companion. It's a respectable profession, legal and everything."

Willow felt the need to change the subject. " What kind of work do you guys have here?"

"Oh, you know. Cargo transport. Salvage. That type of thing."

"Which are you doing now?"

Kaylee shook her head. "Not sure, yet. They've got some sick people over in Paradiso, a town pretty near here, suffering from Bowden's Malady. Might have something to do with that."

From inside, a radio crackled and Mal's voice could be heard. "Wash! Wash! Start 'er up, we're comin' in hot!"

Kaylee clapped her hands together. "Come on, it's time to head back in. Get ready for takeoff."

"Xander!" Willow yelled. Xander looked up, and she waved for him to come back. He didn't understand, though, and waved back at her before going back to picking at some plants. Willow saw a dust cloud quickly approaching.

Xander turned to look in the distance. A gunshot rang out from the cloud, and Xander stumbled backwards and fell over a rock.

"Xander!" Willow yelled. She ran down the ramp and was about to head for Xander when he shot back up to his feet and high-tailed it for the ship.

He wasn't fast enough. The captain, Jayne and Zoë rode up on horses, horses Willow was fairly certain they didn't have when they left. They almost passed Xander by on the way. Jayne rode on, but Mal and Zoë turned their horses and began firing behind them, giving Xander time and cover to get back to the ship.

Unfortunately, they were outnumbered, and a couple of the people chasing them rode past, in chase of Jayne. He was carrying a large satchel, and holding it very delicately.

"Get back on the ship!" Kaylee yelled, pulling Willow's attention back to her. "They'll get him back safe."

Willow turned back to the scene in front of her. A horseman was riding up on Xander, too fast. Just as the horse caught up, Xander dropped to the ground and rolled to one side. Willow whispered a few words, and the horse spooked and threw its rider.

The man rolled up off his back, stumbled forward and swung a lazy fist in Xander's direction. Xander easily dodged the blow, grabbed the man's arm and thrust his elbow into the man's face. Blood spouting from his nose, the man fell to the ground screaming.

"Here!" Jayne spat, tossing his package to Kaylee. He whirled on his horse and turned back towards the fray.

"Git!" He yelled at Xander as he passed. "Back on the ship, you damn fool!"

Xander ran towards the ship, but the second horseman – who Jayne had failed to see – reared up between him and his destination. Xander raised his fists as if to fight, and the man leveled a shotgun at him.

Xander's eyes shot wide open in surprise, and he looked behind the horseman. The guy turned in his saddle, and Xander sprinted up and grabbed the guy's gun, twisting it away from him as he tried to pull it out of the man's hands.

The horseman fired the shotgun, forcing Xander to release the too-hot barrel.

"Come on," Willow whispered.

Xander reached the gun again, but the man pulled it away from him. Xander grabbed the saddle strap, unhooked it and yanked, sending the man to the ground. He dove under the horse and climbed on top of the man just as he again raised his shotgun. Xander dove to the right as the blast went off next to him. Xander's shoulder looked like it was torn to shreds.

"No!" Willow screamed. She tried to run out to him, but Kaylee held her back. In the distance, the others were riding back to the ship.

Xander hit the ground and spun, bringing his foot up and kicking the man just as he began to rise. Xander's foot hit directly on the man's mouth, sending him back to the ground. Xander rolled up, crawled over and planted his knee on the man's chest. With his uninjured arm, he slammed his fist into the man's face three times, knocking him unconscious on the final blow.

Willow pulled out of Kaylee's grip and ran to Xander's side, the mechanic not far behind.

"Xander!" Willow cried, throwing her arms around him.

"Careful!" Xander said, wincing as the enthusiastic redhead attached herself to him.

"Come on," Captain Reynolds said as the others rode up. "We need to get on board."

He was sporting a graze across his arm, and Zoë's chest looked like it had been shot. The blow had, however, apparently been absorbed what looked a sort of extremely light body armor.

Willow shook her head forcefully. "We're not moving until you tell us what just happened."

"Listen!" said Mal. "Those guys have friends, and lots of 'em, and better armed. If we don't get to movin' now, we might not move again, ever, so I suggest you and your friend get back on the boat."

"I think we deserve –"

"Will," Xander gasped. His skin was paler than it had been mere moments before, and his arm was soaked in blood. "Answers later. Gunshot wounds now. Doctor onboard."

Willow frowned, but stayed silent and started helping him back to the ship.

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"Willow," Xander said. He looked into his best friend's eyes.

"What is it, sweetie?" she asked, firmly grasping his hand.

"They have better painkillers than we do."

Willow smiled at him and kissed his hand.

Simon put finished bandaging Xander's shoulder, then walked around the bed so both Xander and Willow could see him. "You should be all right in a few hours. The dermal mender has stopped the bleeding, and it'll take some time for the muscles to re-knit, but most of the shot was very shallow. Other than that, some soreness, and some short-term loss of movement, I foresee no problems."

Willow smiled at him gratefully. "Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go eviscerate your captain."

"Okay," Simon said with a small smile. "But please put a tarp down first, the floor is so hard to clean."

"Will," Xander said, squeezing her hand.

"Yeah?"

He smiled at her. "Give 'em Hell."

Willow grinned back at him, released her grip on his hand and left the infirmary. She stalked up the stairs and towards the kitchen, but paused when she heard raised voices.

"You said it was going to be a milk run," Mal said angrily. "You said that there wouldn't be anybody guarding it."

"I know what I said, Mal," replied Jayne. He sounded defensive.

"Well then do you mind telling me what the hell all of that was about?"

"Look, I only know what I been told. Ain't my fault if the information's wrong."

"Well what am I supposed to do now? I got a passenger that's been shot, and they're gonna want answers. We've already got a couple of fugitives on this boat, you think we need any more attention than that? Do you know how easily they could ruin everything?"

"It ain't my fault, Mal!" Jayne insisted.

"Well who do you think we should blame, then?"

There was a pause. "Badger?"

Willow heard a chair shift, and when Mal spoke, it was much quieter, more intense.

"Badger?" Mal asked. "You accepted a job from Badger, and you didn't say anything to me?"

"He just mentioned it might be a thing. In passing."

"Zoë, I… I…"

Willow stepped up into the kitchen and cleared her throat, drawing their attention.

"How's your friend?" Mal asked.

"Simon said he's going to lose some motion for a little while, but he should be fine."

Mal nodded. "Good. We had no business bringin' you into that, and we apologize."

Willow crossed her arms and set her resolve. "What, exactly, was that? I mean, what kind of idiot captain goes out and gets –"

"We're thieves," Mal interrupted.

Willow deflated. "Oh. Well, that ruined my little diatribe. But, hey, still bad!" she admonished, wagging her finger at them.

Mal rolled his eyes, but Zoë put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Cap'n doesn't take well bein' lectured to," Zoë said.

"I didn't lecture," Willow denied..

"He ain't patient, either," Zoë explained.

Mal took a deep breath. "Listen, we're sorry what happened to your friend. As compensation, we're willin' ta…" he paused, sighed, and continued. "Willin' to refund your money for the trip, on the condition the two of you don't go callin' the Alliance on us."

Willow frowned at him, then her eyes lit up. "Ooh!" she exclaimed. "Better idea!"

Mal's eyes narrowed. "What?" he asked.

"Uh, well, you know how, kind of, you owe us?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, what if, instead of us not paying, you agree to take us somewhere else?"

Mal crossed his arms. "Where?" he asked.

Willow hedged. "Um… somewhere that's not on your charts?" She grinned innocently.

"If it ain't on the charts, how're we gonna get there?"

"Because I can tell you where to go."

"Sorry," he said, shaking his head. "Been taken in by one too many cute redheads. No deal."

"It's Earth-That-Was."

Everybody turned to see Xander, his arm in a sling and pain on his face, standing at the top of the stairs, with Simon beside him.

"I tried to stop him," Simon explained. "But he was determined."

"This from the man who once jumped twenty feet through the air onto an Alliance agent. What do you mean 'it's Earth-That-Was?"

"Just that," Xander said. He pushed himself away from the bulkhead and stepped into the room, walking over near Willow. "We're offering you the location of the planet in exchange for passage to and from. The from being with one extra passenger."

Mal looked skeptical. "Uh huh. And, supposing we did agree to this, what would be our payment?"

"You mean other than us not telling the Alliance that you're thieves?" Willow asked.

"Yes. We'd be takin' an awful lot of risk, here."

"You get all the books I have on board, and any artifacts we find."

"Any?" Mal asked.

"Any. As long as we find our friend."

Mal looked at them silently, not giving away his emotions.

Zoë made meaningful eye contact with her captain. "Can we have a word?"

Mal nodded, and led Zoë and Kaylee up into the cockpit, shutting the door behind them.

"You don't help with the decisions?" Xander asked, easing himself into a chair.

"Oh, I'm not much of a criminal," Simon said. "Nor am I often involved with the crime around here, although I did plan and pull off a good job a while ago. But that was mostly to help River."

"What's… I mean, why did she need help?" Willow asked.

"She's a little, um… off. The 'job' was to gain access to medical facilities so I could analyze her brain, she was… well, the Alliance did bad things to her mind. Made her… crazy."

Xander and Willow shared a look of horror as they both flashed back to Glory and all the crazy people she made in Sunnydale. Including Tara.

"What?" Simon asked.

Willow tried to cover. "Oh. Uh, that's um… horrible."

Simon agreed. "It is. But that look was more personal than just empathy."

Xander cleared his throat. "A um, a friend of ours. Something sort of similar happened. Bad memories."

Understanding blossomed in Simon's eyes, and he nodded. "You have my sympathies," he said. "How did that turn out?"

Willow grinned proudly. "She got better."

"Do you mind if I ask how? I'm having no luck with my sister. The medications don't seem to work for more than a few weeks, and I'm really at a loss about how to proceed."

"Not really sure," Xander said. It wasn't specifically a lie, because he had no idea what Willow had done other than to stick her fingers into Tara's and Glory's heads. "But it was… sudden. Kinda like magic."

Simon smiled at them. "Well, unfortunately I'm limited to the physical realm."

They smiled at him, and waited for the captain to rejoin them.

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"Cap'n, you can't honestly be thinking about this," Zoë said, once they were out of range of the others. "How many people have struck out lookin' for Earth-That-Was, never to be heard from again? How many have gone out lookin' to make it rich, and came back broke, or not come back at all?"

"I know," Mal said.

"Not to mention," Kaylee put in, "if we don't know where we're goin, we don't know if we're gonna have enough fuel. An' if somethin' happens to Serenity, not that I think it will, she's a good ship, but if it does, we're like to be so far away from traveled routes that ain't nobody can help us."

"I know," Mal repeated.

"What are we talking about?" Wash asked as the three of them entered the bridge.

"Goin' to find Earth-That-Was," Zoë said.

Wash relaxed and leaned back into his chair. "Oooh, that sounds like fun. I've never inexplicably disappeared before. It's something I always wanted to do. So really, what are we discussing?"

Mal looked at him harshly. "Going to find Earth-That-Was."

Wash's smile disappeared. "You're joking."

"Sometimes even I ain't sure. Seems our passengers think they know where it is, and they're willin' to pay to get there."

Zoë tapped her foot impatiently. "I mean it. You're not actually thinking of this, right?"

Mal frowned. "Sure would be a thing if we found it, though."

Zoë rolled her eyes. "At least consult the others. They may not want to be part of a zoo like this."

Mal considered this. "I'm not much for making things volunteer, but I'll admit this is a bit of an extraordinary circumstance." He reached up to the intercom and pressed a button. "All Serenity crew members, please report to the bridge. This includes everybody not picked up on this visit to Persephone."

"Subtle," joked Wash.

"It's what I'm best at," Mal said with a smile.

A few minutes later the crew had crowded into the bridge, and Mal addressed them.

"All right, here's the issue at hand. Those folks we picked up claim they got a location for Earth-That-Was, they wanna go find it. They want us to go with 'em. For payment, they'll avoid turnin' us in to the Alliance, give us all the books they got on board and any artifacts we find once we're there."

"Any artifacts?" Jayne asked. "They don't want 'em?"

Mal looked a little skeptical. "They say not."

"Not sure I trust a man ain't got some greed," said Jayne.

"Apparently, they're searching for a friend," Zoë informed him.

"Which is pretty sweet," Kaylee pointed out. "Makes it a nice thing to do."

Simon smiled at her. "My only worry is whether it would be safe for River. What rumors I have heard say that the Alliance strictly guards any and all pathways towards Earth-That-Was, although I've never been given an explanation as to why. However… it would give me pause."

Book cleared his throat. "I would be forced to vote against this. Searching for Earth-That-Was has long been a dangerous pastime, and many people have died. In fact, I can tell you that any such journey would likely result in a conflict with the Alliance."

"Can you tell me why?" Mal asked.

The Shepherd shook his head. "Wish I could. And that's God's honest truth."

"God's truth don't hold a whole lotta sway with me," Mal confessed. Book's face darkened. "However, I understand it does for you, and I guess that's the best I can get."

"Well, I think it sounds exciting," said Inara.

"Sure, if you're into getting killed," replied Jayne.

Inara ignored him. "A real adventure, exploring somewhere new? It hasn't really be done in ages."

Wash agreed. "Plus, it might even be semi-legal, and profitable. I think we can all use some of that."

"What I'm lookin' for is an up or down vote. Those for?"

Wash, Inara, Kaylee and Mal all raised their hands.

"Against?" Mal asked.

Zoë, Jayne, Book and, reluctantly, Simon, raised their hands. Mal frowned. "Who're we missin'?"

Kaylee looked around. "River."

"Well, where's she at? She's a part of this crew, she gets a vote."

"There's a great idea," Jayne grumbled. "Let the crazy girl decide."

Mal sighed. "Simon, she's your sister, you know her best. What would she say?"

All eyes turned to the doctor.

Simon glanced at the faces around him. "Honestly? River would never back away from a chance to learn new things. She would vote to go."

"There it is then. Wash, plot us a course," Mal ordered.

"Don't know where we're going," Wash pointed out.

"Good point. Well, head us to Boros for now, maybe we can get rid of this thing we took." He glared at Jayne. "I'll go find our passengers and tell 'em the good news. You all… go back to whatever it is you were doin'."

"This is exciting," Wash said to Zoë as the others filed out of the cockpit. "Isn't this exciting? New places, interesting new things to find, maybe interesting people."

"Maybe shooting at us," observed Zoë.

"Yeah, but that's nothing new."

Zoë rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah. This'll go just great."

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End Chapter 4